**I'm always up for a dark sounding mid-tempo R&B track so I like how this sounds, however these two are not a match made in heaven vocally. On one side there is Zayn who I guess is supposed to sound vulnerable (?), but unfortunately sounds desperate. His falsetto really isn't that good. On the other side there is Taylor who sounds icy cold and completely uninterested. They can't sell passion to save their lives and that was necessary, not only because of the movie, but because the nature of the track. It's certainly tolerable, but I'm already dreading January if this is going to be on the radio all the time. 3.3

**Quite uninteresting and dull but I have no issues with it for now so it can have a 3. However, I too can see myself hating this quickly if it becomes inescapable during this summer.

Edit: I heard this again the other day and it is certainly worse than I initially gave it credit for. Despite what I said above, I do actually have numerous issues with this. Zayn's falsetto is horribly unpleasant actually and that puts me off the song straight away now. Also Taylor sounds dull as ever and completely unengaged in the song to the point it's pretty much like watching paint dry. Also the lyrics are incredibly uneventful and sounds like your typical pop lyrics about some relationship which is especially a worry if it features in a risque bdsm movie. Last edited: 02.03.2017 15:28

***Zayn is actually quite good here despite this being a very lacklustre track.I honestly don't get all the hype around Taylor Swift, she really is incredibly overrated and offers absolutely nothing here.

**It's very emblemic of a mass-marketing effort around what should by all normal logic be a niche market. The fact of the matter is that "Fifty Shades Of Grey" really is that big of a deal, and thus we need a film tie-in to accentuate the franchise. The soundtrack tie-in hit is a commonly successful way to promote this but for my take this just does not work at all. The film is "Fifty Shades Darker", but this track just feels the opposite, sounding thoroughly chaste, even by the not-so-high standards of the artists involved. It feels like a whole lot of executive meddling; a lot of voices taking a cut into the art direction that results in a bland middleground. To make a song for a soundtrack like this, you need swell, you need groove, you need some sort of sexual drive, but this lumbering percussion-heavy dirge does nothing to compliment its purpose.

**I don't really subscribe to the whole moral outrage thing when it comes to sex anymore. I think it's a really toxic way of thinking that ultimately leads to slut shaming and a lack of proper education about sex, among other things, because people are so fearful to approach the topic. It's a bit ridiculous really, especially when outrage is often directed at things purely catered towards adults.

However, I can't help but feel uneasy whenever I see or hear about the 'Fifty Shades' books and films. I will admit I haven't read any of the books or watched the first film, but my perception is that they're highly problematic. I have no issues with BDSM or people who who are into it, despite it not being appealing to me personally. But when people who engage in such practices don't think the plot accurately represents BDSM and instead looks more like abuse, a violent relationship and even non-consensual sexual activities, you know you have a problem. It worries me that women are being duped into the Fifty Shades trilogy when it's got such a problematic plot, especially when you consider domestic violence rates in Australia.

I mention all this because I feel it's important to the context of this track. This was an instant hit, with the movie tie-in playing a significant part in that. Despite showing the darker side of sex and relationships, while also purporting to be about the often unexplored topic of BDSM, it's a rather vanilla song. You'd think the movies would have darker songs promoting it, but instead the first movie had "Love Me Like You Do" as its big smash. Even when getting The Weeknd in to help, who is no stranger to the darker side of sex, the result is a more romantic ballad. It makes me think that people (mainly women) are being duped into being excited for these problematic movies and the associated books with these accessible pop songs which don't seem to represent the movie at all. But perhaps I'm missing the context of where the songs are played in the movie (if at all)?

So what makes this song so bad? Zayn's falsetto is just a bizarre fit and I'm struggling to think of where it would fit in the context of the movie based on what knowledge I have. I don't mind it personally but what the hell is it doing there? Taylor just sounds uninterested and they sound awful when singing together. The production is something that I don't notice so much when I hear it on the radio (which is pretty much the only place I ever hear it), but listening to it now it really is shoddy. I'm annoyed that the name power of both of them + the movie tie-in has made this a hit.

If anything this track has worsened my opinion of these movies, which I already had a low opinion of anyway. I suppose I shouldn't expect much from what is basically a glorified Twilight fanfiction. The existence of this is interesting for one thing though, I'm struggling to think of a big ARIA hit that has had such a middling response from aus-charters. Which is pleasing.

****Not my favourite Taylor song by any means. And Zayn doesn't really sound that interesting on this one either. But as far as songs go it is fairly catchy and not offensive to the ears and has the backing of two rather large musician fan bases and also the back of a rather large book/hit movie franchise. Last edited: 26.05.2017 21:05

***Taylor Swift can do no wrong in my eyes. So I'll offer this just like the 1st movie the single released to promote the movie is way better than the actual movie. However having said that the song is only average. I'll blame Zayn. I'll go out on limb here & say Zayn's solo career will stall before the rest of them.